Bilateral disection of Fallopian tubes is a common surgical procedure to sterilize a female primate. This procedure involves severing and tying the Fallopian tubes. Intrauterine devices as plugs and wires are used to temporarily sterilize a female. These devices include plugs which are inserted into the canals of the Fallopian tubes to prevent ova from passing through the canal into the uterus. The plugs do not insure that the ova cannot flow through the canal into the tube. The plugs can be dislodged and lost without the female being aware of it. There is no assurance that the plug devices are effective. Cimber in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,675,639 and 3,680,542 discloses plugs attached to the uterine wall to block the entrance of ova into the uterus from the Fallopian canal and exit of sperm from the uterine cavity into the Fallopian canal. These plugs are designed to effect temporary sterilization in that they can be removed and do not cause permanent blockage of the canal of the Fallopian tubes. The plug contraceptive devices are not entirely effective in that it is possible for ova to by-pass the plugs and enter the uterus.
Liquid tissue adhesives have been developed which polymerize when applied to moist living tissue. The adhesives have been used for various surgical procedures. When the tissue adhesive is used, the cells adjacent the tissue are damaged and eventually replaced with a fibrous tissue. A liquid tissue adhesive has been injected into the uterine cavity with a catheter to occlude the canals of the Fallopian tubes.
The use of balloons to block the lower portion of the uterus when applying liquid tissue adhesives to the Fallopian tubes is also known in the art. See, for example, "The Effect of Methyl Cyanoacrylate Tissue Adhesive on the Human Fallopian Tube and Endometrium," by Stevenson, et al., The Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the British Commonwealth, Nov., 1972, Vol. 79, pp. 1028-1039, Human Sterilization, edited by Richart and Prager, 1972 and Female Sterilization, edited by Duncan, et al., 1972 (See p. 107 e.g.).
One of the problems with the prior art methods of applying liquid tissue adhesives is that in an attempt to assure occlusion of the Fallopian tubes a large amount of the adhesive often had to be inserted into the uterine cavity. Only a small amount of tissue adhesive entered the Fallopian tubes, so the prior art metehods were not only wasteful of materials, but had the medically undesirable effect of leaving large amounts of material on the endometrium of the uterus.
The apparatus of the present invention overcomes these problems by providing a highly flexible structure which is expanded to completely fill the uterine cavity prior to insertion of the substance for occluding the Fallopian tubes.